AVIVA

Aviva is the U.K.’s largest insurer, with over 14 million customers, and is one of Europe’s leading providers of life and general insurance, combining strong life insurance, general insurance, and asset management businesses under one brand.

Conscious of the risks and impacts that a changing climate has on individuals, societies, and its own business, Aviva seeks to manage its own operational impacts, encourage customers, suppliers, and companies in which it invests to consider the implications of climate change, and work with like-minded organizations to understand future consequences and solutions.

CONSIDERING CLIMATE CHANGE

Aviva seeks to manage its own operational impacts, encourage customers, suppliers, and companies in which it invests to consider the implications of climate change.

AVIVA PARTNER EARTHWATCH TO SUPPORT MANGROVE RESEARCH

Aviva and Earthwatch have been working together since 1997, based on our shared belief in protecting the environment for future generations. In particular, a shared priority is working to mitigate the impacts of global climate change and find solutions that will help communities to adapt in a changing world.

Aviva is currently supporting Earthwatch scientist Professor Mark Huxham, who leads our mangrove research and community project in Gazi Bay on the southern coast of Kenya. Although mangroves account for less than half of one per cent of all forests, they provide many valuable services to humankind: for example, as a nursery habitat for numerous fish species and a natural barrier protecting coastal communities. But mangroves are being destroyed and degraded at an alarming rate, and these impacts will be exacerbated by climate change.

Mangroves are highly effective carbon sinks, capturing up to six times more carbon per hectare than undisturbed rainforests. By quantifying and costing out the carbon sequestration potential of mangroves, this research is supporting the establishment of a community-run plantation that will provide funding to the inhabitants of Gazi Bay from the sale of carbon credits–a tangible incentive for mangrove conservation. Professor Huxham and his team are currently working with Plan Vivo on the final stages of accreditation, and it is hoped that the first credits will go on sale later this year, making this one of the first projects worldwide to sell credits derived from mangroves.

Through this project, Aviva has also helped to increase scientific capacity within Kenya by investing in the training of early-career scientists. With support from Aviva and under the supervision of Professor Huxham, a young Kenyan scientist, Joseph Lang’at, carried out Ph.D. research on this project and was awarded his doctorate in 2012.
As we look to the future, this work will provide a model for other projects along the coast, influencing mangrove conservation and management throughout Kenya and beyond.

Aviva has helped to increase scientific capacity within Kenya by investing in the training of early-career scientists.

Aviva and Earthwatch work together on shared beliefs in protecting the environment for future generations.

More Corporate Partnership Case Studies

Find out how business and environmental outcomes are achieved by corporate partnerships with Earthwatch.

Earthwatch and Starbucks have partnered to support scientific research and employee engagement. Together, they’ve promoted sustainable farming practices in one of the world’s premier coffee-growing regions.

HSBC’s Sustainability Leadership Program is a unique professional development experience for senior leaders, designed to promote understanding of sustainability as a core business issue and opportunity.

Coral Communities in the Seychelles began in 2006 to assess the impact of climate change on coral reefs and informing plans to help safeguard these precious ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.